FTSE 100 preview: US jobs boost for shares

By Reuters
Updated:

 

The FTSE 100 is seen rising on Thursday, set to extend its winning run into a seventh session, following gains overnight on Wall Street, with investor morale helped by reassuring US private payrolls data ahead of Friday's key US non-farm payrolls data.

Dealers monitor their screens on the trading floor of IG Index in London

Eye on the market: Shares are going for a seventh straight day of gains.

The UK blue chip index looks set to add 7 to 13 points, or as much as 0.2%, according to financial bookmakers, after it closed 16.13 points, or 0.3%, higher at 5,948.30 on Wednesday.

The FTSE 100 index is on track to end the quarter on a slightly firmer note, with some of the gains seen in February wiped out by worries over the euro zone debt crisis and events in the Arab world and Japan.

In the United States, underscoring expectations that momentum in the labour market will help underpin the economic recovery, private employers added more than 200,000 jobs in March while planned layoffs fell.

'Traders are more confident to sit on their positions now that the ADP (Employer Services report) hasn't thrown up any surprises, and solidified traders' expectations of a similar result for tomorrow's non-farm payroll figure,' Jonathan Sudaria, a dealer at Capital Spreads, said.

The latest US weekly jobless claims numbers should provide further clues as to the jobs situation across the Atlantic.

Investors will also look at March Chicago PMI data and February US factory orders data.

In terms of domestic economic data, British consumer confidence stagnated in March, holding just above a two-year low, as households waited to see if they would benefit from tax measures in Britain's annual budget, a survey by polling company GfK NOP showed.

UK banks could be in focus, with the results of stress tests for Irish banks due on Thursday.

A US jury rejected GlaxoSmithKline's antitrust claims against Abbott Laboratories over allegations of unfair HIV drug pricing, after Britain's biggest drugmaker had asked for hundreds of millions in damages.

There will be updates today from Compass Group, John Wood Group, TUI Travel, Tate & Lyle, Booker Group, Dairy Crest, International Public Partnerships, JKX Oil & Gas, Mothercare, Petropavlovsk and SVG Capital.

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